2006 Final Report Summaries
Discover Life in America Grant Program

Grant money supplied to Discover Life in America by the Great Smoky Mountains Association and Friends of GSMNP supported All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory research in the Park for the 2006 season. Dr. John Morse, Discover Life in America Board member and Science Committee Co-Chair, administered the grant program, now in its seventh year. The review panel included eight DLIA scientists. Requests totaled $90,480 for the $75,000 budgeted for this year. Links to the final report summaries are below.

Eighteen proposals were funded out of a total of 22 submitted. The research delved into a variety of life forms in GSMNP. Some of the proposals are continuations of previous and on-going work. All are coordinated with the Discover Life in America Science Plan.

The grant season is from April 1st though March 1st.

We propose to continue our inventory of water bears (Phylum Tardigrada). To date (Jan ‘06) we have identified over 8000 specimens, discovering 66 new records for the park (out of a total of 69 species), including 13 species new to science. This is the second largest inventory of tardigrades ever completed, and the first to create a computer, georeferenced database. Species richness estimates suggest that a total of 96 species exist in the park. For comparison, this is about 10% of the world’s known tardigrades, while the park holds only about 6% of the world’s salamanders. The Tenth International Symposium on Tardigrades will be meeting the summer of 2006. Three to four presentations will be presented at that conference and submitted for publication.

The funds requested in this proposal will be used to support two activities. The first will be an intensive collecting/educational event (“Myxo Blitz 2006”) already scheduled for the weekend of July 15-16, 2006. This event, to be based at Purchase Knob, will bring together a group of researchers, educators, students and volunteers who will spend two days carrying out field surveys for myxomycetes in a number of localities on the south side of GSMNP. This portion of the Park has been understudied in previous efforts to document the distribution and occurrence of these organisms. The second activity will be the development of a series of species pages (to be posted on the DLIA web site) for many of the common myxomycetes known to occur in the Park.

During May, July, and September in 2005 and 2006, 60 forest litter samples were obtained under canopies of healthy American Beech (Fagus grandifora), Fraser fir (Abies fraseri) and eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis). Since the three tree species are being devastated by exotic pests, baseline data on microfungi was obtained in stands rated as healthy. Across three sampling dates for 2005 and two in 2006, a total of 3,360 and 2,889 microfungal isolates, respectively, were obtained comprising 70 genera. From those totals, 38.4% were from American beech, 30.6% from Fraser fir, and 31.1% from eastern hemlock. The Fungi Imperfecti comprised over 78% of all fungi observed across all tree species. When isolation frequencies were compared between tree species no significant difference occurred. The most common fungi identified were Trichoderma spp. on Eastern hemlock, Trichoderma spp., Penicillium spp., and Phymatotrichum omnivorum which was specific to American beech. Across both years, a total of 54 + taxa identified during the study are first reports for the GSMNP.

Pyrenomycetous fungi are morphologically and biologically diverse and occur in virtually all ecosystems, where they are important as decomposers. Their anamorphs (asexual states) include many industrially beneficial fungi as well as agents of some of the most devastating plant and animal diseases. A number of species are restricted to eastern North America, where remnants of the ancient Tertiary flora persisted, or also occur where similar fragments of this flora are found in eastern Asia. Such a distribution (referred to as the famous “Asa Gray disjunction”) has not been studied previously in pyrenomycetes. The focus on the proposed project is on continuing my efforts to document the species of pyrenomycetes that occur in GSMNP. Specimens collected in the Park will be compared with those already known from eastern Asia to assess the taxonomic and biogeographical relationships of the species involved.

The goal of this project was to develop web pages for 89 beetle species known from the families Dytiscidae, Gyrinidae, Haliplidae, Hydrophilidae, and Noteridae in GSMNP. Automontage photographs were taken of each species. Text included a summary of the known biology, a short description, and other known or observed information on the species. All of this information has been uploaded to the DLIA web site using the web page template provided. Currently 113 web pages for the target families are posted.

I developed a “Creature of the Month” text and photo for the DLIA website which was posted in May 2006. I presented an oral report on the three years of work on these beetles to the DLIA Annual Meeting. A total of 113 web pages were developed and have been posted on the DLIA website.

The original proposal was for developing web pages for 89 species in the target families in GSMNP. A total of 114 species are now known from the park. There are 46 Dytiscidae, seven Gyrinidae, five Haliplidae, two Helophoridae, two Hydraenidae, two Hydrochidae, 48 Hydrophilidae, and two Noteridae.

Web pages have been developed and posted for 113 of the 114 known species. The remaining specimens have not been identified to species and represent either a major range extension or a species new to science. The specimen needs to be submitted to Dr. Phil Perkins, Harvard University, who is the world expert on the family Hydraenidae.

This is near the 126 species I estimated to occur in the GSMNP in my 2004 proposal. The remaining 12 species are probably in the park, but until the exact habitat is sampled they will not be found.

Four collecting trips were made to the Park to collect and photograph Orthoptera and related orders. A species of grouse locust (pigmy grasshoppers) was collected at two sites, one in Tennessee and one in North Carolina that had been reported in the literature from only two other locations (a park in Florida and the Bankhead National Forest in Alabama.

This is the only new record for the Park collected this year but additional sites were recorded for other species. We currently recognize about 100 species of Orthoptera and related orders from the Park.

Photographs and scans were made of live and freshly killed specimens for possible inclusion on the DLIA web pages and for a poster summarizing our results. We have photos of most of the Acrididae and some of the crickets, cockroaches, mantids, and walking sticks. The small size of the grouse locusts and many of the crickets makes photography a challenge. Rapidly fading colors in the green katydids almost requires photographing them in the field. This takes away from collecting time.

We feel certain that many additional species are present in the Park that we haven’t found. Future collections will concentrate on finding some of them. Also light trap collection would probably double the known number of roaches and mantids from the Park.

We conducted an initial survey of water mite diversity in GSMNP in September 2005 by obtaining 56 collections from 11 watersheds representing stream riffles and pools, springs and seepages, and waterfalls. As anticipated, water mites proved to be abundant and their populations taxonomically diverse in these habitats. We identified mites from 49 genera in 25 families and 7 superfamilies, including two genera not previously found in North America and two others known only from Oregon and California. Species identification is underway and we expect to find at least 150 species, about half of them undescribed. Our objectives for 2006 are to continue identifying specimens collected in 2005 in northern and western areas of the Park, and to survey selected habitats in southern and eastern watersheds. We will also conduct an educational workshop to provide a comprehensive introduction and some hands-on experience to those wishing to improve their knowledge of water mites.

We propose to sample carabid (ground) beetles along three altitudinal gradients in GSMNP, with sampling occurring at 300 m altitudinal increments. Four additional spruce-fir sites in GSMNP will also be sampled. Sampling will be conducted from March 1 – December 1, 2006 and will involve pitfall traps and hand collections. Data will be integrated with studies initiated in 2003. This approach will provide data for a) species inventories for each site, including previously undescribed species and species new to GSMNP b) seasonal and annual variation of the carabid communities, c) estimates of the efficiency of each technique for sampling carabid beetle communities d), to test a number of hypotheses regarding species occurrence and stability.

The true fruit flies are colorful insects whose immature stages are obligate plant feeders. GSMNP, with an estimated 60-70 species of fruit flies, is a hot spot of tephritid diversity, as it harbors over half of the fruit fly species known from all of eastern North America. We will document their biologies, distributions, host relationships, and immature stages. Methods include mass-trapping, targeted collecting, and dissection of infested plants to reveal details of feeding, development time, mortality factors, parasites and predators. Species pages, distribution maps, and photos of flies and hosts will be posted on the Web.

The purpose of this bioquest, to be held July 27-30, 2006 , is to conduct a biodiversity inventory of a variety of taxonomic groups whose habitat includes the limestone areas of GSMNP. We plan to bring together experts in the following groups: land snails, leaf litter and soil organisms, tardigrades, beetles, vascular plants, bryophytes, lichens, fungi, and slime molds. Investigations will take place around the entrances to caves and sinkholes and in the plant communities derived from carbonate rock. There are at least seven areas in the Smokies that can be considered karst-like habitat and are very distinctive from the rest of the Park. Protected areas for rare and endangered species will be off limits or highly restricted, according to Park recommendations. Researchers may explore caverns and examine some cave organisms, depending upon Park policy and the interest and the availability of expert cavers (hazardous nature of the vertical caves). A broad array of involvement is needed from various taxonomic experts and a variety of collecting methods will be employed. Ten researchers have already indicated they will participate, and Discover Life in America volunteers will be recruited and trained. Educational programs will be presented to Park visitors, as well as to teachers and students, through cooperation with the education partners of Discover Life in America.

The GSMNP is extremely rich in lichens. I will continue my previous work aiming at finding so many bark and rock lichens as possible that are new to science or at least new to the park. I will focus on sterile, crustose species on tree bark and on rock overhangs. Good material from several localities is needed to make good descriptions of lichens that are new to science. It is necessary to carry out field work in as many habitats as possible in all parts of the park to learn about the variation and ecology of the species. The dust lichens (Lepraria) have a diversity center in the park. They can easily be seen on bark and rock surfaces from trails throughout the park. Several of them have no name, i.e., they are not yet described. A key will be made for sterile bark lichens.

We continued our quest for obscure, little studied ants that are found strictly in the leaflitter. To date, we have focused much of out attention on ants in several common genera. Recently, however, we have begun to detect species that are in need of much taxonomic revision. Put simply, scientists just haven’t studied them enough to know anything about them. In addition, our work is beginning to uncover some potential causes of spatial variation in ant diversity. In the past year, we have published 5 manuscripts on ant diversity in GSMNP.

DATA SUBMITTED to database manager Michael Kunze <michael_kunze@nps.gov> on Feb 26, 2007 (date) in MS EXCEL (format).

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES garnered to support this research

Total leveraged funds: $120,508

Total value of in-kind resources donated: ~$15,000

Leveraged source #1Department of Energy $120,508

Recent surveys (Rakes and Shute 2005) and taxonomic revisions have increased the number of fish taxa known from GSMNP to 88 species. These surveys discovered several previously unknown fish populations in poorly accessible or never sampled stream systems; in addition, a number of historic occurrences were not verified. The findings suggested the need for additional surveys, both in streams that might be predicted to harbor undiscovered populations, as well as in some of the surveyed streams where historically occurring species were not observed. An additional goal would be underwater digital photography and/or videography to capture images of the Park’s fishes for web sites and other educational outreach.

Freshwater oligochaetes (segmented worms – Phylum Annelida) are widely distributed throughout North America, yet specimens often remain unidentified because of poor collecting techniques, limited taxonomic expertise, and lack of mature specimens. Many publications have focused on the distribution, ecology, and taxonomy of oligochaetes elsewhere in North America, yet none has addressed their biodiversity in GSMNP. Of the 238 species of freshwater oligochaetes occurring in North America, over 120 occur in the southeastern U.S. Previous DLIA mini-grants have supported our surveys in the Park; research progress (site information, methodologies, list of species, literature, alignment with the ATBI Science Plan) is summarized on our project website < http://www.inhs.uiuc.edu/~mjwetzel/AOGSMNP.home.html >. Funding in 2006 will support one collecting trip to the Park in August to revisit selected sites, obtain mature individuals of taxa collected previously as immatures, and finish the processing of back-logged samples.

We will train volunteers to monitor the Park for mosquitoes living in water-holding containers associated with human activity (tires, cans, bowls, bottles, buckets). This program will provide data on the times of year when the mosquitoes are most abundant and how the different species utilize various containers. The results may provide some insight into potential public heath concerns. A website for the public will be developed to display photographs and natural history of each mosquito species collected from the Park.

Fungi that belong to the unusual order Entomophthorales are mostly pathogens of insects. They play important roles regulating natural insect populations, and some are important biological controls of pest insects. A team of four Cornell researchers plus DLIA volunteers will conduct a four-day preliminary inventory of the Entomophthorales in GSMNP in 2006. Collections gathered during this expedition will be the first from the GSMNP, and will form an important core for understanding the biodiversity of this interesting group in North America. Volunteers will have the opportunity to learn about an often-overlooked but bizarrely beautiful and interesting group of organisms.

No data on fern viruses is available in scientific literature. Plenty of native species/varieties present in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park represent an excellent substrate for initiating an organized study on fern viruses.

The project proposes molecular investigation on viruses infecting fern species/varieties present in the GSMNP and will represent pioneer work in this subject worldwide. Study on fern viruses will generate some valuable scientific data and will give insights about the evolutionary relationships of plant and fern viruses.

This project proposes very first study on viruses within the DLIA/ATBI activities and will contribute to enrich All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (ATBI) of the GSMNP.

The Lepidoptera TWIG of the Great Smoky Mountains ATBI has successfully used the bioblitz format to construct an increasingly more comprehensive list of species for the park (approaching 1700 spp.). During 2004 and 2005 we started partnering with Dr. Paul Hebert of the University of Guelph to barcode all species from the park. This effort has resulted in over 1000 species being sampled for DNA barcodes and another 300-400 having cryopreserved specimens deposited at the Ambrose Monell Tissue Collection at the American Museum of Natural History ( New York).

Great Smoky Mountains National Park and DLIA has taken the lead in barcoding Lepidoptera in North America. This effort will have far reaching impacts on ecological and systematic studies. Already many species in eastern North America can be identified at any lifestage because of barcoding over the last two years (currently about 2/3 of the known species in the park). This could be invaluable in monitoring efforts, particularly in evaluating the effect of introduced parasitoids on non-target species. Barcoding has also revealed cases of potential cryptic species within the Smokies fauna, particularly in species that are distributed over a large geographic area. The same phenomenon has been noted in the Costa Rican fauna, also first indicated by barcoding efforts (Hajibabaei et al. 2006, Hebert et al. 2004).

Our survey efforts have resulted in a large database of over 21,000 records, near all georeferenced. All records have been submitted to DLIA and the park for inclusion in the master database. We hope to have this on-line in the near future to facilitate creating distribution maps and correlating species with specialize habitats.

Data from the Lepidoptera survey has been published in several papers (Wagner 2005, Pogue 2005, in press) with additional publications in various stages of completion. These include papers on the use of bioblitzes in survey efforts, a list of Lepidoptera known from the park, and species descriptions (e.g. new Ligdia sp.).

Up to this point we have conducted major collecting efforts (3 large bioblitzes and 2 smaller efforts) in May, June and July, but have not been able to schedule later season trips (except individual efforts). We propose a mid-August blitz modeled after the 2005 effort. This effort was an open-ended, five-day collecting trip with the goal of improving our coverage of barcoded species. This trip was very successful, with about 400 species and 1000 individuals barcoded. Even with our intense earlier efforts, we still recorded several new records for the park, particularly in groups with small moths. Because we have not sampled intensely during the later season, we anticipate that an August effort will result in additional new records, as well as significantly adding to the barcoding coverage for the park. Our ultimate goal is to have all known park species barcoded so that information is retrievable in any lifestage.

As in past blitzes, the main expense to successfully complete the project will be travel for participants. We propose to fund travel for a team from Dr. Hebert’s lab to coordinate DNA sample collection and imaging of specimens. We will again invite staff from the AMNH to do cryopreservation of specimens. In addition, we will invite taxonomic experts to process and identify samples and encourage graduate and undergraduate student participation. A complete voucher set of all species taken at the blitz will be preserved and barcoded. As in the past, many participants will provide their own travel funds, and most scientists will fund an assistant for the effort. Both the Hebert lab and the AMNH have funded a portion of their expenses in past blitzes, and will likely be able to do the same during 2006. The amounts indicated for these groups reflect these contributions.